2.3 The anthropology of organisations
Anthropology is the study of cultures and societies throughout the world,
and shares many of the features of sociology. The discipline emerged in
Western countries and was originally focused on non-Western cultures,
especially tribes and isolated societies. Anthropologists developed different
methods of research from sociologists, because they faced different
challenges by studying cultures that were significantly different from their
own. More recently anthropologists have studied not only traditional but
also industrial societies.
Wright (1994) in her book The Anthropology of Organizations2
draws together
a number of anthropological studies that have been done in Western and
non-Western organisations, in both the public and private sectors. These
usually involve the anthropologist spending time within the organisation
to develop an understanding of the behaviour patterns, social groupings,
rituals, symbols and language within the organisation or within a particular
group of employees. The detailed descriptive accounts made possible by this
method, and the collection of data over a significant time length, can yield
useful results for understanding problems with organisational efficiency
and social relations within the organisation. Furthermore, the issue of
national culture can influence aspects of management, and this has become
increasingly important as more organisations operate globally. We explore the
contribution of anthropology later in Chapters 6 and 7 of the subject guide.